Monday, December 10, 2018

This mosaic map of Cap May is a 50th birthday present for my brother. It is based on the arial view of the Cape May coast line to include the canal and the US Coast Guard base.

Finished Italian smalti mosaic of Cape May.

The style of this mosaic was inspired by Rachel Sager, but more closer followed the Google image map of the area. I struggled when trying to represent the main streets; their definition got lost as the mosaic filled in. Maybe I should have left a 1/16 inch gap. Quite a bit of the marsh area by the Garden State Parkway was edited out because I just ran out of room on this scale.

The Google image of Cape May.

I am always surprised at how long a mosaic takes to complete. I get so invested in the placement of each tiny piece of glass. I try to plan the balance of color, like framing the terra-cotta colored compass with green, its color compliment. I hoped this would give a focal point with so much gray in the land mass, but I hated it. I chiseled out the tiny bits and replaced them with deep chocolate brown bars that fade into the charcoal gray grout. It's better, I think.

Monday, November 5, 2018

Inspired by the Japanese woodblock print The Great Wave by Hokusai, I wanted to create some glass waves.

My finished fused glass waves.

These beautiful fused glass waves were created with bits of glass frit and powdered glass. Frit is made by crushing sheet glass and then sorting it into similar size groupings. I purchase my frit already sorted into jars cause that makes it easy. Bullseye glass in Portland offers the frit in four granulations; coarse, medium, fine and powder.

Glass frit and powdered glass.

To create each glass wave, I carefully arrange the glass frit and powder on transparent glass and temporarily fix it with hairspray. This makes it easier to transfer the painting from my desk to the kiln. The glass painting is then heated in the kiln to 1400 degF for 15 minutes to create a contoured finish.

Thursday, September 27, 2018

Is it ever too early to start thinking about Christmas? How about some Christmas Kokeshi and a matching Santa!

My finished Santa and Kokeshi.

After creating the pattern for the Santa, I realized I needed to make tiny glass dots for Santa noses, belt buckles and pom-poms. To create these components, I cut glass squares in the appropriate colors and then heated them in my kiln to 1500 degF. Glass squares melt into perfect balls, just like magic.

Glass squares, cut and ready to become dots.

When designing this Santa, I wanted him to match the style of my Kokeshi but also remind me of the characters from the It's a Small World ride at Disney. I love their round, happy faces! After transferring my patterns, I hand cut and shaped Bullseye sheet glass into the parts I needed. Everything gets a good washing and then it's time for assembly.

Glass parts ready for Kokeshi and Santa.

Every ornament gets layered by hand. Each piece of glass gets secured with a tiny drop of Elmer's glue. The glue burns off before the glass starts to melt, but it helps keep everything together so I can carry things to the kiln.

Each Kokeshi and Santa gets a pair of tiny glass eyes and crushed glass in medium and fine granulations to create fur trim on their cute little holiday outfits.

Adding fur trim to fused glass Christmas ornaments.

I have decided that it's never too early to start getting ready for the holidays.

Saturday, September 15, 2018

Kokeshi are handmade wooden dolls originating in Northern Japan. My kokeshi are handmade out of glass at my tiny workshop in Okinawa Japan. I drew my original pattern in 2010 when we lived in Okinawa for the first time. Moving back has given me the opportunity to create these little cuties again.

My finished kokeshi.

A kokeshi with a cherry blossom on her skirt.

Creating each kokeshi begins by transferring my pattern to sheet glass. I use hand rolled glass made by Bullseye in Portland, Oregon. Each piece is hand cut and then shaped with a glass grinder.

Bullseye sheet glass ready to be scored.

I carefully layer the cut glass and include a hook so she can easily be hung later on. Tiny glass eyes and a petite mouth are added to her traditionally round face. The cherry blossom on her skirt is adorned with bits of crushed glass in assorted colors.

Layers of glass stacked carefully and decorated.

Each stacked glass kokeshi is transferred to my kiln where it is heated so the glass layers will bond together. These girls were fused to 1400 degF so the finished ornament will have nice rounded edges and lots of depth and texture.

Glass kokeshi heating to 1400 degF in my kiln.

Opening the kiln after it cools is like opening presents on Christmas morning! Seeing each little kokeshi complete just makes me smile.

Tuesday, September 4, 2018

The US Navy has moved us from Sicily, Italy to Okinawa, Japan this past summer. Recent moves have seen my glass workshop downsized from an expansive 2-car garage to a much smaller laundry room closet to now - a desk in the mudroom. At least all my glass arrived unbroken.

Sunday, March 11, 2018

This heart mosaic is a birthday present for our daughter. It began as a wish for her to follow her heart. As it progressed, I realized that you can't give a gift with such a huge caveat. Instead, this mosaic heart is simply given with our love. Happy 16th birthday Cece!

Finished Italian smalti mosaic of an anatomical heart

When I began work on this mosaic I started by reading through the heart section of my husband's anatomy books. I'm a pretty literal person and wanted to make sure that the heart was mostly anatomically correct and my color choices didn't stray too far from how the heart works. I spent quite a bit of time thinking and planning the project, finally painting it in watercolors to get comfortable with the shading and color gradients.

The watercolor inspired by my reading

This was my first time working with Wedi board as a substrate. Wedi board has a foam core and is much lighter than the wood. It was a little difficult to sketch on but very easy to apply thinset to. It was amazing to work with all of the colors of Orsoni Italian smalti and larger rotti. I tried to really pay attention to the flow and size of each of the pieces, changing up the shape when it came to the background.

My progress on the anatomical heart mosaic

It's finished and I hope she loves it and I hope she knows how much we love her. Happy Birthday Cece!